Features

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Wyoming governor vetoes abortion restrictions and signs trans medical care ban for minors

Wyoming’s governor on Friday vetoed a bill that would have erected significant barriers to abortion, should it remain legal in the state, and signed legislation banning gender-affirming care for minors. The abortion bill rejected by Gov. Mark Gordon, a Republican, would have required facilities providing surgical abortions to be licensed as outpatient surgical centers, adding to their cost and the burdens they face to operate. Women would have had to get ultrasounds no less than 48 hours before either a surgical or pill abortion to determine the fetus’s gestational age and location and viability of the pregnancy. Abortion is legal […]

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Cable news coverage of 2023 anti-trans bills lacked trans voices: Media Matters

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Cable news outlets couldn’t avoid covering the rash of anti-transgender bills in state legislatures in 2023, but they didn’t often feature trans people talking about the subject, according to new research from Media Matters for America. The coverage also varied widely in terms of tone and time spent, notes the study, which looked at reporting by MSNBC, CNN, and the Fox News Channelthroughout the year. During 2023, more than 550 anti-LGBTQ+ bills were introduced in state legislatures, and more than 80 became law, by the Human Rights Campaign’s count. Many of them specifically targeted trans people — seeking to ban gender-affirming health care for youth, […]

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Anti-transgender hate crimes spike, leading to calls for a public health emergency

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For decades, transgender Americans have lived under a constant threat of violence. Whether at their homes, places of work or in public, there seemingly is nowhere out of reach from hate. In the last 20 years, hate crimes against LGBTQ+ people of all types have risen at historic rates across the country. And since 2016, Los Angeles — the nation’s second-biggest city has seen a startling rise in violence motivated by hate against its transgender residents, though it is ranked as one of most friendly to queer and trans people in the U.S.  The Advocate compiled data from the years 2003-2022. A primary source was the LA […]

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Republicans Object To IVF Services For LGBTQ Veterans

The Independent reports: A quartet of Republicans want the Department of Veterans Affairs to explain a recent decision to offer In Vitro Fertilisation services to veterans who are unmarried or in same-sex relationships, citing “a plethora of ethical concerns and questions” raised by the announcement. In a letter to VA Secretary Denis McDonough, Representatives Matt Rosendale, Bob Good, Mary Miller and Josh Brecheen call IVF — a procedure in which human embryos are fertilised in a laboratory setting and implanted in a woman’s uterus — “morally dubious” and say it “should not be subsidised by the American taxpayer”. Read the full article.

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Antiquated HIV laws excessively target Black men for actions that don’t even transmit the virus

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Ohio activists are arming themselves with new data in the battle to repeal antiquated laws across the country that criminalize people with HIV. Two reports, one released by Equality Ohio with the Ohio Health Modernization Movement, and another from The Williams Institute at UCLA, look at the criminalization of HIV in the Buckeye State. They discovered that over half of prosecutions for so-called “HIV crimes” were for acts statistically unlikely to transmit HIV.   Ohio has six laws on the books that either criminalize certain acts by people living with HIV or substantially increase sentences for them compared to other people in the criminal […]

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Idaho considers a ban on using public funds or facilities for transgender care

 Idaho lawmakers are expected to vote this week on a bill that would ban the use of any public funds for gender-affirming care, including for state employees using work health insurance and for adults covered by Medicaid. The legislation already passed the House and only needs to clear the majority Republican Senate before it is sent to Gov. Brad Little’s desk, where it would likely be signed into law. The Republican governor has said repeatedly he does not believe public funds should be used for gender-affirming care. If the legislation is enacted, Idaho would become at least the 10th state […]

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Texas appeals court blocks state from probing transgender kids’ parents

A Texas appeals court on Friday upheld a lower court’s injunction blocking the state from investigating parents who provide their transgender children with gender-affirming medical treatments, which Gov. Greg Abbott has called abusive. Abbott, a Republican, had ordered the state Department of Family Protective Services to carry out child abuse investigations into families whose children were receiving puberty-blocking treatments in February 2022. A month later, a district court judge imposed a statewide temporary injunction on such investigations, saying the probes endangered children and their families. The appeals court in Austin upheld the district court judge’s injunction in a pair of rulings on […]

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Texas appeals court blocks state from probing transgender kids’ parents

A Texas appeals court on Friday upheld a lower court’s injunction blocking the state from investigating parents who provide their transgender children with gender-affirming medical treatments, which Gov. Greg Abbott has called abusive. Abbott, a Republican, had ordered the state Department of Family Protective Services to carry out child abuse investigations into families whose children were receiving puberty-blocking treatments in February 2022. A month later, a district court judge imposed a statewide temporary injunction on such investigations, saying the probes endangered children and their families. The appeals court in Austin upheld the district court judge’s injunction in a pair of rulings on […]

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Southern states push forward with bills ending legal recognition for trans people

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The pace of anti-transgender legislation has slowed in recent weeks, with several states, known for previously targeting transgender individuals, failing to pass any such laws. However, a different dynamic is emerging across the Gulf South, where three states are advancing bills that would cease the legal recognition of transgender individuals, potentially having significant repercussions for their trans residents. Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama are introducing bills to define sex in a manner that excludes transgender individuals, potentially affecting birth certificates, driver’s licenses, bathroom access, and more. The bills, dubbed the “Women’s Bills of Rights” by their supporters, fall far short of actually protecting women’s rights. They fail […]

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LGBTQ+ people are facing a mental health crisis. Sharice Davids is ready to fight for them.

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Davids is currently fighting to win her fourth term this November — a tough battle, as her district’s demographics have changed to become less Democratic-leaning, and Republican opponents are lining up to challenge her. But she has also been fighting another very important battle: the fight for increased access to mental health care. Davids has co-sponsored bipartisan legislation to fund mental health programs in local clinics, schools, and law enforcement centers, as well as a bipartisan bill to help people recovering from substance abuse reenter the workforce. She has also supported dozens of bills to bring down the costs of health care and prescription drugs and introduced the Pride […]

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